Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Why grade-skipping should be back in fashion

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/09/why_grade-skipping_should_be_b.html
Why grade-skipping should be back in fashion
by Jay Mathews
Washington Post
September 22, 2010

As the second month of school nears, some parents wonder if their children are getting all that they need. The lessons seem too simple. Their kids are bored. If they have been designated gifted, there may be occasional pull-out lessons to enrich what they are learning, but that may not be enough.

I have seen no data to confirm this, but it seems to me that schools rarely consider skipping those students ahead anymore. I have talked to Washington area administrators about this. They are uncomfortable with the approach. They think students who are above grade level learn better--with some extras thrown in--if they stick with kids their age.

A generation or two ago the attitude was different. I run into far more people my age who skipped a grade than I meet friends of my children who did the same thing. My wife skipped second grade in the early 1950s. Her parents had nothing to do with it. Six weeks into the school year in California, after attending a hard-charging school in Kansas, her teacher said, �You can already do this stuff. This is a waste.� She was suddenly a third grader.

Parents these days appear reluctant to sanction such a jump. If anything, the fashionable move is to make sure your child is a bit old for her grade. People put their children in kindergarten a year late so her chances of both academic and social success are enhanced. That is fine for kids who are late developers. But in the long-running debate over what to do with students ready for more, acceleration deserves another look.


In my experience, students are far more ready to adjust to age differences in their classes than we give them credit for. A 2004 study by the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Iowa found that �an overwhelming majority� of students who had been accelerated endorsed the move when surveyed years later. They said they had been both academically challenged and socially accepted.

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My dad was skipped 3 grades throughout his school years. He ended up going to college at 15. All of his accelerations were school initiated. He definitely thinks it was a good idea because he remembers what it felt like to be bored in class, even after the accelerations. He describes extreme frustration with teachers, other students, and himself. Also, he was in trouble A LOT!

He did ok until he went to college, and that's where the positive experience of his acceleration stops. He was not mature enough to handle the independence of college at such a young age.

Of course, I think in this day and age, we have lots of other opportunities for kids who finish high school early: distance learning, online college courses, local community colleges or universities near home. My dad just went away to college like most of us do at 18 or 19 and only came home on holidays.

All in all, he ended up doing fine, but he says he made decisions he regrets because he wasn't equipped to handle the responsibility. That said, I'm still in favor of acceleration, whether it be full-grade or subject.

I know my son is much happier with older children anyway. He has a hard time relating to kids his age, and there are frequent conflicts. With older friends, this problem is non-existent. In his case, acceleration would be great. If only I could get him to take a risk and really show them what he can do!